


Timing

by kyo_chan



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-31
Updated: 2013-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-27 15:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/663699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/kyo_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say that timing is everything. And he never had it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Timing

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my darling fiancee for putting the bug into my head. Thank you also to Aionwatha for the beta.

It was never the right time.

When Edward so clearly mourned the atrocities that had been done to Nina Tucker, Roy wanted to reach out and hold him. He would have sheltered the broken boy from the rain, told him he had done everything he could and never would have told a soul if there had been tear stains on his uniform jacket. But he had given Ed the tools to make adult decisions, had been firm and talked him down just like he would have any of his subordinates. To let Ed be weak would have done him more harm than good.

Though he boasted a good game to the scarred Ishvalan’s face, Roy’s heart had been in his throat on that rainy day. His inability to even make a spark only mirrored the helplessness that lurked behind his bravado. Seeing Ed laying in the street like a beaten dog, a part of him in pieces, the rest of him resigned to a fate he didn’t deserve, Roy felt angry. Al had stolen his thunder in the aftermath by yelling out the words that were on the tip of Mustang’s tongue, and because the equally broken suit of armor was Ed’s beloved brother, he got away with it much more than Roy could have hoped to.

Roy had abhorred driving away and leaving Ed and the foreigner to face the creature so intent on his life. By letting Hawkeye steer him away and Ed draw danger away from him felt cowardly. He was supposed to believe that his life was more important to the future, had more value, when it really didn’t. It was still a boy that ran into the dark woods alone, a weapon against his skin that he would never use and all the bold bravery (or stupidity) that Roy himself wasn’t allowed to have.

When it was all over, and the world was both quiet and black, it still wasn’t meant to be. All the things he wanted to say, the way he wanted to touch Ed, it all had to wait. Ed had kept his promise, he’d given up one thing that he loved to save the other. As he left for Risembool to see to Al’s recovery, Roy wondered if he ever had anything there to start with, or if he had always been too focused on everything he wanted and nothing that would actually come to pass. Hawkeye returned to service, and Roy spent time while Marcoh worked with Havoc, sorting out what he wanted most. Just as blind in his soul as he was in body. He wanted to hear Ed’s voice, telling him he’d done everything he could, yelling at him to get up and keep walking. 

Years later, he was moving forward, up to his ears in bureaucracy, red tape and mending a country that was still bleeding from old wounds. But it was a bittersweet way he took baby steps into his future, alone yet surrounded by people he cared about, alive but somehow lacking. 

“Hey, old man. Whatcha got for me?”

Roy looked up one day and it was like nothing had ever changed. messy blonde hair was tied back and challenging golden eyes demanded the world while expecting hell.

Ed always did have the better timing.


End file.
